


5 ways to remind you, i love you

by jswoon2



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: 5+1 Things, M/M, Movie Reference, Only They're Grown Adult Men, Romance, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-03
Updated: 2018-05-03
Packaged: 2019-05-01 13:09:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14521260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jswoon2/pseuds/jswoon2
Summary: Sure, Geno is thirty-one and happily married to the man he’s dated for the past five years but that doesn’t mean romance is dead. His ideas of romance might have come from limited sources though.





	5 ways to remind you, i love you

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta'd, only proofread. Feel free to let me know of any errors I missed. My inbox is always open on tumblr @sinkpages.
> 
> Comments and kudos are lovely!

1.

Usually, the best part of summer is being able to go home to Russia. See his family, his  _ dog _ , get some much needed—and deserved—R&R. This summer is much like the last, only when he goes back to Russia, he gets to bring Sidney with him. 

(Sid did spend one summer in Russia with him before. It was a long weekend trip but after Mama caught him and Sid  _ in flagrante _ as Flower would gleefully put it, Sid was more eager to get  _ out _ of Russia than anything else. Sid has gone back to Russia since but only under the promise that they never speak of the incident again.

Mama thinks it’s hilarious and Zhenya wants to tell his husband that, although he feels that might make Sid even more embarrassed.)

Zhenya spends a month and a half in Russia while Sid stays for three weeks. They have plans to spend the rest of their honeymoon phase in an undetermined location. Probably somewhere that snows during the summer because Sid can never stay away from hockey for too long. It’s not fair either that Zhenya is the only one that gets to see his family so that’s the reason why they split up in the first place.

Secretly, however, Zhenya has discovered that Taylor is a perfect person to conspire against Sidney with—even more than Flower. He arranges a surprise flight to Cole Harbor and waiting at the gate is his dear sister-in-law.

Cheesy, maybe, but Zhenya feels bad that he and Sidney didn’t really get to  _ date _ . They had dates, but never quite like the rest of their teammates.

Sid was always half afraid and half hesitant to go public. The press would go wild— _ did _ go wild—and their fanbase for a while had Sid contemplating telling Jen to call the whole thing off and that somehow the NHL got it all wrong. He didn’t, and Zhenya has never really been bothered by any of it.

While Zhenya is old enough to know that romance doesn’t quite work in the ways of typical movie magic, with Sid, he thinks it just might.

Which is why, risking sleeping on the couch for the rest of their stay in Cole Harbor, Zhenya stands outside on Sid’s front lawn holding a boombox over his head.

_ Without a voice, without my pride I reach out from the inside _ , the song blares. Thankfully, Sid doesn’t have many neighbors. The closest house is Nathan MacKinnon’s, which Zhenya is no longer, or at any point in time was, jealous of.

Zhenya considers singing along until the front door to Sid’s house flies open.

“What are you doing here?” Sid asks logically, looking amazed while smiling ear to ear.

“I thought I surprise you,” he says, unable to put the boombox down quick enough before Sid is in his arms.

“It worked,” Sid admits. He steps back only so he can have enough room to kiss Zhenya properly.

Distantly, the sound of a camera shutter goes off in a two second burst.

Now seems like an inappropriate moment for Zhenya to inform Sid that his sister is in the car.

 

2.

Sid goes to work out in the morning, which Zhenya respects, but he just got off a long flight and he’s jetlagged so he stays in bed.

Sid is just returning when Zhenya finally decides to get up. It’s noon, which is late, even for him, but he deserved the sleep. He stays in Sid’s bed long enough to watch Sid pass, peeling off his sweaty clothes to hop in the shower before his stomach growls.

With minimal rummaging through Sidney’s cabinets, he manages to find cereal that doesn’t taste like cardboard. Only when he gets the first spoonful into his mouth does he realize just how hungry he is. He devours the bowl in record time when Sid’s shower stops. Sid took a quick one it seems.

Zhenya heads upstairs first to offer to make Sidney something too and gets a spark of excitement when Sid accepts. He doesn’t mention  _ what _ because that would ruin the fun.

“What,” Sid says plainly, seeing Zhenya laying on the bed with whipped cream covering his nipples and his groin.

“I’m thought you were hungry,” Zhenya says innocently. “I’m hope you like sundaes.”

“I don’t know what I expected,” Sidney admits.

“Is a yes?” Zhenya asks, raising a brow, trying to look sexy.

Sidney holds his towel tighter around his waist before deciding, “I guess I could go for a sundae.”

And really, Zhenya didn’t think that would work. He’s not going to disagree with the results though.

 

3.

The last day in Cole Harbor Sidney convinces Zhenya to go golfing. It’s not that Zhenya doesn’t like golfing, he just doesn’t get its grand appeal.

Somewhere around the ninth hole, the sky begins to darken. Here Zhenya would call it quits but Sidney insists that they can make it to the tenth hole. Plus, the group behind them doesn’t seem deterred by the prospect of rain so it wouldn’t be fair to start slowing down now.

Granted, they do make it to the eleventh hole, Zhenya resists a poignant  _ I told you so _ when it starts pouring down on them all at once.

The golf cart makes it slightly less miserable on their trek through the rest of the course to get back to the club house. They’re soaked regardless. Luckily, the rain feels pleasantly warm. He doesn’t realize that he’s standing still, allowing the rain to soak through his clothes until Sid’s hand is curling around his wrist, asking for his attention.

“You okay?” Sid asks.

Zhenya has never felt better. He gets a little ahead of himself. Overeager, Zhenya lurches forward for a sudden kiss. With both hands on Sid’s cheeks, he’s smiling a bit too much for the kiss to be good, but Sid falls nicely into his arms anyway.

“What was that for?” Sid asks, blinking away the rain falling around his eyes.  _ Wow, he has such pretty eyes _ , Zhenya thinks briefly.

“It still isn’t over,” Zhenya whispers mostly to himself, an echo of his favorite movie scene.

“What?” Sid parrots himself.

Zhenya smiles, dragging his husband back to the car. “Is nothing. Just, I love you.”

Maybe Sidney thinks about questioning Zhenya’s weirdness but he doesn’t. Instead, he just says, “I love you too.”

 

4.

Hockey starts back in October, which means it’s back to work. 

Vacation was nice. They finished it off by staying quite local, stateside. A few weeks in Florida at the beach, a day or two in DC to see the National Museums. Wanting to hike, they visit Colorado before flying back to Pittsburgh.

It’s a little bit of everything that Zhenya and Sidney wanted to do.

October also means Halloween time.

Meanwhile, Gonch is lamenting over his oldest daughter starting to date as Zhenya tries not to laugh at how protective Gonch is being—something he swore he’d never push on his daughter. He’s  _ not _ , the man insists, but he does wish dating was a bit more like the old days where the natural way of doing things, not a request, was for a boy to come to the front door and properly meet the parents before taking his daughter out.

“She won’t tell me anything about this  _ boy _ except he’s nice. I hope he’s nice, for his sake. And he has his own car, Zhenya. What parents give seventeen year old boy brand new car?” Gonch asks, as if he didn’t also do the same for his daughter. Granted, he made a point of getting her an older model, but it was new nonetheless.

“Nathalie have good judgement,” Zhenya reminds his friend, although amused. He’s not going to push Gonch’s buttons when it seems this boy is doing it all on his own without even trying.

“I tell Ksenia I should chaperone date to be safe but she say I’m overreacting,” Gonch sighs. There’s a hint to his tone that tells Zhenya even Gonch thinks his wife is right even if he’s too stubborn to admit it.

“Where they going?” Zhenya asks, anything to draw the conversation into a more neutral territory.

It’s apparently not neutral.

“Drive in theater,” Gonch says. “I didn’t think they even existed anymore. Those things are kissing machines! Ksenia was right. It was better I didn’t know.”

Faintly, in the back of his mind, Sidney’s words of warning Zhenya and Tanger from drawing him into any unwanted plans. Later Sid might give him a good Captain Talk about it but it’s for the greater good to save Gonch’s sanity that Zhenya offers—

“Me and Sid can chaperone.”

“I don’t think Ksenia will agree to that,” Gonchar admits.

“In secret. I always see them in movies, maybe now is time to see one in person.”

Gonch pauses, looking like he wants to accept. “No, we shouldn’t.” He sighs again, slouching slightly. “Although, if you and Sid were to go and you happen see something, it wouldn’t be wrong. Free country and all.”

“Is our secret,” Zhenya adds.

 

*

 

Riverside is a sweet 4.8 star establishment on Yelp so at least Nathalie’s boy has good taste.

As it turns out, and how could Zhenya forget, Sidney has a very specific liking for old monster movies. They’re incredibly cheesy and certainly no match for the current movie effects, however, Sidney watches with the utmost fascination.

Zhenya is a little smug though that he manages to draw Sid’s attention away from the big screen just by idly rubbing his hand up and down the inside of Sid’s thigh. He never tells Zhenya to stop though. In fact, Sid thinks he’s being subtle about it, spreading his legs out a bit further.

“Hey,” Zhenya whispers, getting Sid’s full attention, “maybe we  _ you know _ .”

Sid huffs out a laugh. He’s wrapped in Zhenya’s jacket—unnecessary and at the same time very necessary. Sidney might have had the same limited dating experience that Zhenya has but that doesn’t mean he’s clueless.

“We’re in public,” Sid states.

“You tint windows,” Zhenya baits. If anything they can go home to make out. There’ll be no distractions there. Only. 

Only, Sid shifts a little in his seat, making himself seem smaller underneath Zhenya’s arm.

“You’ll respect me in the morning?” Sid asks teasingly, doing that  _ look _ . The one that gets him anything he wants from Zhenya just by looking up through his lashes.

“Of course,” Zhenya says immediately.

Sidney laughs a little when they kiss. It’s a bit uncomfortable as two grown men to make out in Sidney’s SUV. They make it work well enough.

Sid ends up with beard burn and a hardon. Geno ends up feeling like he forgot something.

 

5.

“Hey G, can I borrow your scissors?” Sid asks, his hockey stick between his legs and his tongue peaking out as he concentrates.

“As you wish,” Zhenya replies.

“Thanks,” Sid says slowly.

Zhenya winces hearing Tanger’s cackling.

The Princess Bride is a masterpiece, Tanger.

 

+1

Somewhere between a long road trip and a three game homestretch, there’s little time to catch their breath.

Zhenya offers to cook. Instead of eating at the table, they sit on the couch with a shared blanket draped over their laps. On the TV, Alice and her husband are looking for their first home in Japan. It’s fascinating. Their ceilings are so low and their toilets are so advanced. Somehow, Alice must convince her husband to buy House Number 3 even though it’s way out of their price range.

The wine has him feeling nice and warm on the inside.

The next couple—well, the husband—complains about everything to the kitchen countertops to the rugs to the wall colors. So much so that Sidney sighs, leaning into Zhenya while saying, “Walls can be painted,” before changing the channel.

Zhenya doesn’t mind. Four Weddings is much more interesting.

Hannah certainly deserves to win. Her vows are tearjerking and the food seems to die for. He’s almost jealous that he didn’t think of it when he and Sid got married. As the first dance between the married couple begins, Zhenya drags Sidney onto his feet into a slow dance.

“I have idea,” Zhenya says, slow to warm Sidney up to what he’s about to suggest. Sidney hums. “I want to try the big move.”

“I don’t know what that is,” Sidney says.

“The  _ move _ from Dirty Dancing. Technically, I’m never see Dirty Dancing but—”

“Then how?”

“Well, Ryan Gosling did it in Crazy, Stupid, Love but really I wouldn’t say love is stupid. Unless,” Zhenya says with a sudden realization, “love make you do stupid things. I see.”

Sidney steps away from Zhenya, taking the time to mute the TV before sitting down and inviting Zhenya to do the same.

“Is this why you’ve been acting weirdly for the past couple months?” Sidney asks.

“What you mean?” Zhenya answers with a question of his own.

“I don’t know. It just seemed like you’ve been acting a bit differently recently. And Tanger might’ve said something but he wouldn’t give me a straight answer,” Sid says like not knowing offends him. Zhenya even bets Sid tried to use his Captain Voice on Tanger.

“I just want to make things more romantic.”

Sid laughs, sympathetically patting Zhenya’s cheek with one hand while drawing Zhenya closer with the other. “You don’t have to. I already think you’re plenty romantic.”

Zhenya can’t help the blush. “You think? So no big move?”

Sid kisses Zhenya briefly, arms looped around his shoulders. He makes a noncommittal noise. “Maybe after Kate’s wedding kills Hannah’s wedding.”

“Excuse?” 

“Kate’s having her wedding on the field of PNC Park. Her reception is going to have live animals there. How could she not win?” 

Zhenya huffs, playfully pushing his husband away. “Money not everything in wedding. And you said no animals at our wedding!”

“You wanted a lion.”

“With lion handler!” Sid fixes him an unimpressed look. “If Hannah wins, we do big move.”

Sidney’s competitive expression softens. He shakes his head with a laugh but he agrees. “Only if you promise that it never leaves this room.”

“Promise.”

 

1.5

(Amy’s wedding wins. Her dress was gorgeous and the wedding cake had Sid practically salivating at the TV. TLC is airing a marathon though so best two out of three wins.)

**Author's Note:**

> Can you guess all of the movie references used?


End file.
